Authorities have arrested a former school administration official in Arlington for allegedly having sex with a minor who attended the private school where the suspect previously worked.
The Arlington Police Department (APD) took David James Languell, 52, into custody last Thursday, charging him with one count of sexual assault of a child and one count of online solicitation of a minor. According to court records, he has since posted $15,000 bail and has been released.
However, The Dallas Express discovered that Languell was previously out on bail on a cruelty-to-animal charge in Tarrant County, which a representative of his attorney confirmed.
It is unclear whether Languell will retain his current lawyer for the latest charge.
Languell was employed as the director of facilities at The Oakridge School until September 2020 and is the parent of a student currently attending the school, the Fort Worth-Star Telegram reported.
“To the best of our knowledge, no inappropriate physical contact with any student occurred on the Oakridge campus, nor while The Oakridge School employed him,” said the head of The Oakridge School, Matt Burgy, in a statement provided to The Dallas Express.
“The Oakridge School has been fully cooperating with law enforcement since February 2022, when we first became aware of this matter. The school immediately investigated, to the extent we could, and provided Child Protective Services (CPS) and the Arlington Police Department with the results of our investigation,” said Burgy.
The Dallas Express reached out to Burgy to ask about the circumstances under which Languell left The Oakridge School and to clarify whether he resigned or was fired.
Burgy replied, “We will not be providing any further information at this time.”
A total of nine sexual assaults have taken place so far this year in Arlington, according to the City of Arlington’s crime database, which, when adjusted for population, trails Dallas in sexual offenses.
Year-to-date, sexual offenses in Dallas spiked by 8.3% compared to 2022, signaling the seriousness of Dallas’ crime problem, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
